The Learned Collector

Mythological Statuettes and Classical Taste in Late Antique Gaul

Lea M. Stirling

Publication Year: 2005

Inspired by a classical education, wealthy Romans populated the glittering interiors of their villas and homes with marble statuettes of ancestors, emperors, gods, and mythological figures. In The Learned Collector, Lea M. Stirling shows how the literary education received by all aristocrats, pagan and Christian alike, was fundamental in shaping their artistic taste while demonstrating how that taste was considered an important marker of status. Surveying collections across the empire, Stirling examines different ways that sculptural collections expressed not only the wealth but the identity of their aristocratic owners. The majority of statues in late antique homes were heirlooms and antiques. Mythological statuary, which would be interpreted in varying degrees of complexity, favored themes reflecting aristocratic pastimes such as dining and hunting. The Learned Collector investigates the manufacture of these distinctive statuettes in the later fourth century, the reasons for their popularity, and their modes of display in Gaul and the empire. Although the destruction of ancient artwork looms large in the common view of late antiquity, statuary of mythological figures continued to be displayed and manufactured into the early fifth century. Stirling surveys the sculptural decor of late antique villas across the empire to reveal the universal and regional trends in the late antique confluence of literary education, mythological references, aristocratic mores, and classicizing taste. Deftly combining art historical, archaeological, and literary evidence, this book will be important to classicists and art historians alike. Stirling's accessible writing style makes this an important work for scholars, students, and anyone with an interest in Roman statues of this era. Lea M. Stirling is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Manitoba and holds a Canada Research Council Chair in Roman Archaeology. She co-directs excavations at the ancient city of Leptiminus, Tunisia.

Cover

Frontmatter

Acknowledgments

The present book has been a long time in the making, from nascent
ideas in classes with Jeremy Rossiter and Thelma Thomas, through
its original recension as my 1994 doctoral dissertation (University of Michigan),
to the much-expanded present format. I extend...

Contents

List of Figures

1. Introduction

Vivid descriptions of two diametrically opposed responses to
mythological statuary in Gaul from the later decades of the fourth century
have come down to us through accounts of Ausonius of Bordeaux and
St. Martin of Tours. Though contemporaries, the two men had different
educational backgrounds and personify contrasting...

2. Findspots, Functions, and the Burden of Proof: Some Questions of Methodology

Before addressing the statuary assemblages of villas in Gaul
(chap. 3) and other Roman provinces (chap. 6), it is necessary to consider
some basic issues of methodology and interpretation.1 Statuary
found in a late antique house under the Via Giovanni Lanza in Rome perhaps
epitomizes the most straightforward...

3. Late Antique Villas in Southwest Gaul and Their Sculptural Collections

The three most famous sculptural collections of late antique Gaul
come from the villas of Saint-Georges-de-Montagne, Chiragan, and
Montmaurin. Though each of these sites had multiple mythological statuettes
of late antique date, none of the assemblages is without some difficulties
for the reconstruction of an ancient...

4. Issues of Style, Chronology, and Origins

“The execution of this statuette is quite faulty,” wrote Theodore
Amtmann of the Venus of Saint-Georges-de-Montagne (fig. 7). He
explained, “the neck is overly long, the head out of proportion, the arms
stiff, the legs swollen: in a word, all the characteristics of the late empire.”1
While Amtmann clearly viewed these characteristics...

5. Paideia and the World of Ausonius of Bordeaux: The Social Environment of Late Mythological Statuary

The issues of iconography, display, style, and transport previously
examined lead to the crucial question of taste: why did late mythological
statuettes carry such appeal for Aquitanian landowners? The classical
education system, known as paideia in the eastern empire, is the key to
understanding this taste. We are fortunate...

6. Learned Collectors across the Empire

Late antique interest in domestic statuary was by no means limited
to Gaul, as the international distribution of late mythological statuettes
already suggests. Surveying statuary assemblages from villas and houses
across the empire provides important evidence for identifying regional
characteristics in Gallic collections and assessing...

7. Statuary, Paideia, and Collecting: Conclusions

Statuary found in Gaul has provided the core material for fresh analysis
of three important topics for the study of late antiquity: late mythological
statuettes, classical education, and private collecting of sculpture.
The first topic has not previously received a dedicated study of this length,
the second topic has been little investigated in...

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